Let's talk about it 🗣️: Feastables

*I am not affiliated with anybody with connections to the creation or production of Feastables. All comments said are from my own research on the internet, and are not intended to defame the product and the company as a whole🙏

What makes Feastables truly feastable?

WHAT ARE FEASTABLES 

Launched in 2022, Feastables is a chocolate brand founded by Jimmy Donaldson, Mr Beast. With their aim to deliver high quality snacks to the masses, customers are able to choose from 7 different flavours - milk chocolate, peanut butter, milk crunch, peanut butter crunch, dark chocolate, dark chocolate sea salt and almond. Additionally, Feastables used to sell gummies as well as cookies, but they are currently discontinued. For viewers residing in Singapore, one bar on shopee would set you back for around $5.61 for 60g of chocolate. 

HOW DID IT GET SO POPULAR?

Youtube, with a side of the rest. 

From the get-go, Mr Beast already has an insane fan base due to the immense popularity of his videos. Hence it is not surprising that he would publicise his own chocolate brand on YouTube itself. With the large majority of the fanbase to be presumably children under the age of 16, it is no surprise that Feastables would become a hit with them. 

One aspect which causes Feastables to stand out from other chocolate brands would be the labelling of their products. I mean if I was a kid and I saw chocolate called deez nuts, I would immediately snatch it. Who wouldn't want to have deez nuts in their mouth? Well, not Brian Ditore. Brian Ditore, owner of a snack company Dee's Nuts, won a legal battle against Mr Beast in 2023 regarding the naming of "Deez Nuts". So even if you are trying to find deez nuts, deez nuts will not find you at all.

While despite the lawsuit against the use of deez nuts, I have a feeling that another reason for the removal of the labelling would be parental concerns. With my very limited knowledge of slangs, deez nuts to me is the equivalent of d*ck. If I were to have a child, I wouldn't want them to go around saying "I have d*ck in my mouth". Seriously, no thank you. 

WHY IS IT A BIT SUSPICIOUS?

their tagline is "the worlds best chocolate". However, are they truly the best?

POPULARITY VS TASTE

For a start, Feastables is made in the USA. When it was first released into the markets, the main consumers were obviously the west. When it comes to the number of reviews that they receive, there is a possibility that a large proportion of these reviews comes from the west. Could there be biasness in their reviews?

Let's look at reddit. Now is it the most reliable source? I'm not sure, but is it the most unbiased? Probably. Now there are indeed mixed reviews on reddit, but the main consensus was that Feastables are not bad given it is a celebrity brand. Some say they are good for the American palette, but can't be compared to more artisanal chocolate brands on the shelves. In my opinion, I can see why Feastables are going to be more popular amongst Americans since Americans make up a large proportion of Mr Beast's fanbase. But with that being said, should Feastables be marketed as America's best chocolate instead?

INGREDIENTS

From their amazon link, the original chocolate bars contains cane sugar, organic chocolate liquor, organic cocoa butter and sunflower lecithin. Is four ingredients enough to compete with the rest of the chocolate market? 

If there is one elephant in the room, it would be the organic chocolate liquor. Essentially, cocoa liquor is the purest liquid form of chocolate. In order to produce chocolate liquor, a one to one ratio of cocoa solids and cocoa butter is added together. And with that, there is definitely no alcohol in it, unless you are thinking of chocolate liqueur. The cocoa liquor is used as the base of chocolate because of its bitter notes, which is very fitting for the flavour profile that they are marketing. 

Now lets talk about sunflower lecithin. Lecithin in layman terms is just fats. In the process of making chocolate bars, fats like lecithin are needed for emulsification purposes. Where does the emulsification process take place? My guess: the formation of organic chocolate liquor. There are different variants of lecithin, with the two most popular being sunflower lecithin and soy lecithin. However, sunflower lecithin may be preferred since soy is quite a common allergen amongst people. At the same time, sunflower lecithin is easier to harvest at a lower cost, hence making it a more popular option.  

MY TWO CENTS 

Generally, Feastables seems to be a legit chocolate brand despite it being a celebrity brand. However, I do have some thoughts throughout this entire research process. 

Is feastables used as a marketing scheme? Mr Beast is already incredibly popular. Despite the usual nature of his content (his money 💸), I find that he will still be able to sustain his lifestyle solely based on the profits that the team is getting for each video. So why does he still need a chocolate brand? My main reasoning could be he just wants to spread his name out even more. Another could be the fact that he just likes chocolate. I feel that feastables might just be a little stint and not intended to be profitable in the long run.

I also didn't realise how difficult it was to get any sort of graphics for Feastables. While trying to search for graphics to put in, somehow I wasn't even able to get any sort of of images, let alone the ingredients list. Mr Beast must really be loaded, because it must take a good sum in order to make sure none of these pictures get copyrighted. Guess we'll have to settle with my drawings instead 

Now should you buy it. I personally think it is worth to give it a shot since it is relatively clean. However, I personally think it is not worth the price unless branding matters to you. At the end of the day, YOU DO YOU ✌but if you do try it out, let us know how it tastes 👍

Little did we know, that's all for today, bye bye 👋

~ chloe c. 

References

(n.d.). Feastables. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from https://feastables.com/

Chocolate Lesson 101 – Chocolate Liquor. (2016, December 30). Aalst Chocolate. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from https://www.aalstchocolate.com/post/2016/12/30/chocolate-lesson-101-chocolate-liquor

Dodgson, L. (2023, December 14). MrBeast Can No Longer Use 'Deez Nuts' on Feastables Branding. Business Insider. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-can-no-longer-use-deez-nuts-on-feastables-branding-2023-12

Wills, B. (2022, August 29). Powerhouse ingredient sunflower lecithin. Food & Beverage Insider. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from https://www.foodbeverageinsider.com/food-ingredients/in-full-bloom-sunflower-lecithin